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Royal Humane Society
Instituted 1774 Registered Charity Number 231469
Grace Darling
(1815-1842)Grace Darling is remembered for having rowed through a stormy North Sea to rescue nine people stranded following a shipwreck. It was 1838 and she was just 22 years old. She quickly became a Victorian heroine.
What is often forgotten is that her father, William, who was the keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse, off the coast of Northumberland, was also there and played the leading part in the rescue.
In 1839, both William and Grace were awarded specially minted Royal Humane Society gold medals.
The nine people they rescued had been travelling on board the steamer Forfarshire when it ran aground during a violent storm.
The Society's annual report for 1839 describes how against all the odds the Darlings managed to navigate 'their frail skiff over the foaming billows.'
It goes on: 'On every hand danger presented itself in a thousand terrific forms. The ocean, lashed by the tempest into the most tumultuous commotion, presented a barrier which would have seemed to all but those two intrepid persons wholly insurmountable by human energy.'
That a young woman should have put herself in such danger made Grace Darling an immediate popular heroine, an inspiration to others. 'Is there in the whole field of history, or of fiction even, one instance of female heroism to compare for one moment with this_' concluded the Royal Humane Society in 1838.
Some recent research has suggested that the story was somewhat 'over-cooked'. It seems that Grace had been the first to spot the survivors on Harcar Rock and had offered to row, with her father, to their rescue.
But it is doubtful whether, as legend has it, that she persuaded him against his better judgment to attempt a rescue.
William helped one group of survivors off the Rock, while Grace stayed in the boat. Two crew members then helped row back to the lighthouse where Grace remained to look after everyone.
Her father returned to the Rock to pick up the final group of survivors.
Sadly, Grace was to enjoy her fame for only a few years. In 1842, she succumbed to consumption and died at the age of 27. She is buried in her home town of Bamburgh, Northumberland.
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